Ken is the Science Ninja Team leader. His real name is Ken Washio, he’s 18 years old, and he works as a test pilot. As Ken the Eagle he uses an eagle-shaped boomerang weapon known as the Bird Run. His “light jet,” which he uses for air races while undercover, transforms into the high speed G1 which can be attached to the God Phoenix super-ship. One of his objectives is to find information about his father, whom he barely knew due to them being separated from one another when he was young.

CHARACTER ORGIN

Ken the Eagle is a member of a 5-hero super team in the popular Tatsunoko series originally named Kagaku Ninja Tai Gatchaman. The series is best known to English-speakers by its adaptation title of Battle of the Planets (or G-Force).

Gameplay Details: Ken is a character for those who value high mobility and the age old maxim of 'safety first'. He can approach and escape from threats free a a bird with his arsenal of high-speed attacks which render him very hard for the opponent to punish. His damage output is not very high, but he makes up for it with a variety of tricks and tactics.

CHARACTER STATS

Difficulty: basic/intermediate

Style: mobility based

Defensive power: Ken has less HP than Ryu, but overall is a fantastic defensive character. His Bird Shoot special lets him fly around and stall while simultaneously attacking, and his Random Flight gives him the option to shrug off pressure and trick up the opponent.

Offensive power: While he doesn't deal too much damage on his own, he does enough damage off random hits to be threatening. In general he will want a little bit of help to really hurt the opponent. He is a master of initiating Crossover Air Raids, and since in TvC the higher up your opponent is the more damage they take, Ken's partners will love the height that his air raids are capable of generating.

Approach strength: Ken can approach with ease and safety due to the properties of his special moves. Almost everything he does is safe and allows room for error. He can pressure the opponent just fine with his teleports and quickly advancing attacks, although his melee range is sometimes a little bit short. He has an unusually slow and floaty jump which allows him to remain airborn longer than other characters, which gives him time to scope out openings while keeping himself relatively safe from being punished on the ground.

Combo ability: By themselves his combos are fairly standard, but he's very good at turning stray hits into combos. With the right assist his combo ability improves drastically due to his mastery of the air.

Meter Usage: Ken does sometimes need to rely on his hypers to deal greater damage and to help his combos, and also likes to save it for Delayed Hyper Combinations and Crossover Air Raids. He can build meter passively just by flying around and using his specials, much to his opponent's annoyance.

Key Techniques: Learning to use Random Flight and Bird Shoot to perform assist crossups is a great way to open the opponent's guard. Also using Bird Shoot in air combos and linking afterwards is something that Ken users should come to feel comfortable with.

Partner Options: Anyone with a projectile asist is obviously a good choice, but Ken's best partner is definately Tekkaman. Tekkaman's assist helps a lot in combos, and Delayed Hyper Combos into Tekkaman do a lot of damage. Tekkaman also provides very damaging Crossover Air Raids, and Ken is good at initiating those.

This is Ken the Eagle's projectile attack. It can hit your opponent when it is on its way out as well as on its way back. The strength of the attack button used affects the trajectory of the Birdrang. The attack has some start-up time and does not do a lot of damage on its own, but it can be useful in disrupting an opponent's approach.

BIRD SHOOT

FORWARD DOWN DOWN-FORWARD + ATTACK

The Bird Shoot makes Ken do a flying torpedo at his opponent, similar to Jon Talbain's Beast Cannon in Darkstalkers. It is a useful move that you can use in combos. It can be used in the air but you can only use it once before you have to return to the ground to recharge, though Ken is free to attack or block during the recovery. It is also useful in giving Ken good mobility to get position.

The strength of the button pressed affects the trajectory. Light Attack causes him to torpedo straight forward, Medium Attack causes him to torpedo diagonally forward and up, and Hard Attack causes him to torpedo straight upward.

EAGLE RUSH

IN AIR HALF CIRCLE BACK + ATTACK

The Eagle Rush causes Ken to glide downwards and, if it connects, kick his opponent several times before bouncing off. It can be useful in combos. Be careful, however, because if you miss with the attack Ken glides down very slowly, making it very easy to get punished by your opponent. The strength of the attack button used determines how many hits it does. The Hard Attack version hits the most times but has the longest start-up.

RANDOM FLIGHT

BACK DOWN DOWN-BACK + ATTACK

This makes Ken teleport into the air, ready to launch an attack. It is very useful to escape a bad situation or to play mind-games. Like the Bird Shoot, Ken can perform this move twice before he has to return to the ground to recharge. The attack button pressed determines Ken's teleport positioning. Light Attack teleports him to the left, Medium Attack teleports him to the middle of the screen, and Hard Attack teleports him to the right. These positions do not change if your character switches facing during the match.

Ken performs a stronger version of is horizontal Bird Shoot which hits multiple times for good damage. It works well as a combo finisher.

GATCHAMAN ATTACK: LIGHTNING STRIKE - HYPER COMBO LEVEL 1

QUARTER CIRCLE FORWARD + ANY TWO ATTACKS

Ken kicks his opponent into the air and then strikes from all directions. If the first attack does not connect the rest of the move will not come out. It does good damage if it connects, but this can only be used on the ground. Since Ken is primarily an air-based character, this limits its usefulness.

SCIENCE NINPO: PHOENIX - HYPER COMBO LEVEL 3

QUARTER CIRCLE BACK + ANY TWO ATTACKS

This move looks similar to Spider-Man's Maximum Spider from from the Marvel Vs. series. Ken leaps to the wall behind him and then kicks downward diagonally. If it hits it sends your opponent into the air where he is juggled by a giant Phoenix for great damage. It is very strong but difficult to land.